Just a few weeks or so ago, Jose Valverde rejected the Houston Astros' offer of salary arbitration and decided to become a free agent. The prospect of re-signing with Houston for one year and around $10 million just didn't appeal to Hay-Val.
And as we've seen, that move seems to have backfired.
By now, I figured he'd wind up in another uniform. Perhaps the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox or even something as crazy as the Yomiuri Giants or Chunichi Dragons.
If those two teams bite, Valverde might become known as Se ñor Baseball as did Tom Selleck's character in the movie Mr. Baseball when he was traded to a Japanese team.
Alas, Valverde remains unsigned.
He took a gamble and discovered no teams wanted to pay his asking price. One has to wonder if it's because they feel he's somehow unproven or if they feel his asking price doesn't justify the compensation they'd have to give to Houston.
Who knows, if his asking price keeps going down, down, dooby do down, maybe Houston will wind up back in the mix and sign him. Or maybe some other team will snatch him up before Houston has a chance, figuring he's become too good a bargain to pass up.
Or maybe Houston will decide it would be better to use the compensation to restock its minor league system.
In all honesty, I think Hay-Val has played his last game in Houston. The team will most likely move on unless the highly-unlikely happens—he's still available for a few million dollars a year. By that time, someone else will have snatched him up.
Richard Zowie's a Bleacher Report blogger. Send comments below or e-mail Richard at richardzowie@gmail.com .
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